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Lassa fever in post-conflict Sierra Leone

This resource presents observations of case fatality rates of Lassa fever in Sierra Leone after the civil war and compared to studies completed prior to the conflict. Peak presentation of Lassa fever cases occurs in the dry season, which is consistent with previous studies. This paper's studies also confirmed reports conducted prior to the civil war that indicate that infants, children, young adults, and pregnant women are disproportionately impacted by Lassa fever.

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Lassa fever: The politics of an emerging disease and the scope for One Health

As a rodent borne virus, Lassa fever is of particular interest from a One Health perspective. The interplay between security, public health and One Health approaches are explored through ethnographic and interview based research in Kenema, Sierra Leone, a long-term treatment and research hub. ‘Biodefence dollars’ have provided the majority of recent funding in Sierra Leone and have created opportunities for both local and international actors to address a neglected disease.

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Understanding the cryptic nature of Lassa fever in West Africa

In this article the authors give an overview of the current knowledge on Lassa fever (ecology, epidemiology and distribution) and the importance of future socio-ecological changes in the increase of Lassa fever burden.

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Using modelling to disentangle the relative contributions of zoonotic and anthroponotic transmission: The case of Lassa fever

The authors present the results of a modelling approach, using published data from outbreak and patients to Kenema governmental Hospital in Sierra Leone. They estimate the likely contribution to human to human transmission. They shed light on the need to better assess the human to human transmission.

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Participation of women and children in hunting activities in Sierra Leone and implications for control of zoonotic infections

This paper underscores the challenges of interventions, surveillance, research and sensitization campaigns. To address such complexity, intervention strategies should become more diversified and context-specific. In particular the role of children should be recognised; specific intervention strategies should be tailored to children's specific hunting practices.

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Rat-Atouille: A mixed method study to characterize rodent hunting and consumption in the context of Lassa fever

This paper investigated the consumption of rodents, including the reservoir species of Lassa fever, and found this is widespread and does not neatly tally against generational or gender lines. Further, it found that the reasons for rodent consumption are multifactorial, including taste preferences, food security, and opportunistic behaviour.

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Hunting of peridomestic rodents and consumption of their meat as possible risk factors for rodent-to-human transmission of Lassa virus in the Republic of Guinea

This study comparing two regions in Guinea, Pita and Gueckedou, observed three major risks for Lassa virus transmission: rodent infestation, uncovered food and hunting of peridomestic rodents as protein source. Hunting and preparation of rodents was identify as a specific risk, however more research is needed to ascertain the age and sex-specific risk factors, sociocultural and economical leading to rodent consumption.

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Culture and politics: The anthropology of an emerging disease

This book explores how indigenous people cope with the Ebola virus, addresses political, structural, psychological, and cultural factors, along with conventional intervention protocols as problematic to achieving medical objectives. It also aims to shed new light on a continuing debate about the motivation for human behavior by showing how local responses to epidemics are rooted both in culture and in human nature.

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Emerging disease or emerging diagnosis?: Lassa fever and Ebola in Sierra Leone

This article looks beyond Ebola in 2014 to the history of efforts to control VHFs in the Mano River and challenges the idea that there was a vacuum of knowledge. Highlighted instead are politics of knowledge which have run through global health and which have prioritized particular forms of knowledge and ways of dealing with disease. Ethnographic research on the emergence of Lassa and the subsequent emergence of Ebola in West Africa is presented, focusing on the development of technologies and institutions to detect and manage both viruses.

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Governing epidemics in an age of complexity: Narratives, politics and pathways to sustainability, global environmental change

This paper elaborates a ‘pathways approach’ to addressing the governance challenges posed by the dynamics of complex, coupled, multi-scale systems, while incorporating explicit concern for equity, social justice and the well-being of poor and marginalised groups.

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